Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday called for an enhanced resolve and
intensified efforts to continuously push forward the large-scale
development of the country's western regions.
Speaking at the first meeting of the newly elected State Council's
western development leadership team in Beijing, Wen, who is also
the team leader, said the work in this area is of great and
far-reaching significance for accelerating the development of
China's socialist modernization and will continue to be the central
government's priority.
The major campaign to develop the west was launched in March 2000
and covers Chongqing Municipality, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Guangxi
Zhuang, Xinjiang Uygur and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions and
Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
The meeting reviewed the achievements that have been made on
western development in the past years and said environmental
protection and economic construction in the region have exhibited a
dynamic new look.
Wen urged government officials, especially those in the western
regions, whose performance largely decides the success of the
campaign, to enhance awareness of the importance of the work and to
further explore innovative ways of promoting the region's economic
development.
Wen said China's development strategy for its western region would
continue to focus on the protection of environment and
infrastructure construction in 2003. He also urged the local
officials to speed up the construction of small infrastructure in
rural areas.
Other efforts high on the agenda are directed at developing
science, technology and education, enhancing the basic position of
agriculture while developing industries that exploit local
conditions and transforming resource advantages into economic
advantages.
(China Daily June 11, 2003)